500 kroner banknotes

In the period 1948 to 1991 Norges Bank honoured Abel by printing his portrait on the obverse of 500 krone notes.

Series IV

Work on this banknote series began before the war. An artistic competition was held in 1930 to design a new banknote series, but the war meant it could not be realized. As none of the winning designs was deemed suitable, the architect Arnstein Arneberg was engaged as artistic collaborator. The series was to be based on portraits of prominent Norwegians from the recent past on the obverse and illustrations of the most important industries on the reverse. The engravings for the ten and 100 krone notes were done before the war by the company Thomas de la Rue in London, while the other notes in the series were engraved by Henry Welde, a graphic designer at Norges Bank’ Printing Works.

500 krone note, issued 1948-76, no longer legal tender as of 13 July 1999. Number: 6,964,000. Approx. 216 x 127 mm. Portrait of the mathematician Niels Henrik Abel after a drawing by Johan Gørbitz. In the centre, crowned arms of the Norwegian state.

Series V

Planning for this series began in 1955, right after the Series IV five krone note was put into circulation. The 100 and 50 krone notes were engraved at Bradbury & Wilkinson in London, and the others at Norges Bank’s Printing Works, where the graphic artists Knut Løkke-Sørensen (obverses) and Henry Welde (reverses) shared the work. The five krone note was replaced by a coin in 1963, making the ten krone note the smallest in this series. The ten krone note also “inherited” the blue colour from the old fivers, whereas all the other Norwegian ten krone notes are yellow.

500 krone note, issued 1978-85, no longer legal tender as of 21 June 2002. Number: 8,400,000. 169 x 90 mm. Portrait of Niels Henrik Abel, in the centre a vignette containing a crowned arms of the Norwegian state. The University of Oslo, the three buildings on Karl Johans gate after a drawing by Joachim Frich.